Alex stumbled over to a tree, hands scraping on the bark as she panted. She doubled over while searching for the vampires David talked about, lungs almost bursting from the exertion.

She proceeded slower. However friendly David considered them, vampires willing to waltz into the council's lair couldn't be normal.

She tried to calm her frantic heart, but it was of no use. Her brain knew all too well the imminent danger her position put her in. It screamed for her to turn around and head back to safety, turned her legs to pudding and forced her shoulder-first onto another tree.

The forest was eerily silent, the darkness a comfortable blanket for the predators that lurked within.

She didn't mind — she actually preferred the darkness. Because she didn't need to pretend, there was no mask to be kept up. She was a coward through and through, a wretched being whose face she could barely bare to look in the mirror. But no one could tell.

It covered up the slight mishaps in her expressions, the tremors that she'd occasionally blame on a cold she couldn't feel. But it was okay, because they were all so used to interactions in the darkness that no one ever looked close enough.

Alex squinted for any sign of movement and tugged at the material of her shirt, pulling at the fabric listlessly whilst trying to breathe properly.

Leaves crunched under weight somewhere in the distance but she couldn't pinpoint from where. The bark bit at her bare arm, jolting her body and somewhat helping her gather herself once more.

With one hand on the wood for support, she fought to temper her breathing. It took a moment more for her legs to function properly; for her ears to finally pick up the motion to her back and for her to twist and jump away.

"Woah there," a man held up his hands. "David called us, we were expecting you."

Alex looked from him to the man and woman at his back. Her gaze flickered to the second man. Her nose was nowhere near the caliber of a wolf, but he didn't smell like a vampire. His scent was oddly similar to that of Daphnes'.

"I'm Michael," he offered in a slight accent. "These here are..."

Alex wasn't listening. Her ears rung, chest constricting with a stress she couldn't quite discern.

No, she wanted to gasp. Goddess, not here, not right now.

"Hey, are you ok—"

"Don't touch me!" She slapped his hand away.

She was going to throw up, she realized in horror. Right in front of them.

The woman at Michael's back snickered, thumps tugging at her waistband. "They want us to go in there with a kid?"

"I don't see any other pureblood between you three now, do I?" she countered, resisting the urge to gag. Alex clenched her jaw and bit down on her hand — hard. Her vision came at crystal focus, the ringing in her ears centering to their uneasy footing.

"At least we don't look like we'll keel over and die at any moment." Alex was loathed to have nothing to retort that.

"I'm sorry," she said instead. Because these people were here to help, and so far she had done nothing but panic. She cursed herself for her incessant cowardice. And she cursed her brain for the way it worked.

Coward.

Pathetic coward.

Michael offered a small bag of blood and she drank it greedily while he explained the plan. She took a minute to appreciate the clarity the blood gave her before following them through the undergrowth and to a cave entrance well hidden from prying eyes.

"So we simply head inside?" she questioned, half doubting their credibility. She had just calmed her panic down and they were already a man less than they'd started, she didn't need to give it a reason to surface again.

Three people were plenty. They weren't going in looking for a fight anyway so they'd make it work. They'd be fine.

"And hope this was all a big misunderstanding," the woman grunted. She was taller than her — granted, almost everyone was taller than her — and moving in a practiced, guarded manner; not at all the lithe grace she was used to seeing from vampires. It was strangely similar to the way Val moved, a sort of relaxed prowl that made her more and more uneasy as time passed. Like she knew she'd win, she just wanted to have a little fun while she was at it.

"And what if it's not?" She wasn't sure she wanted the answer to that question.

She grinned, and Alex made a mental note to ask for their names again after they were out. Doing so now would be way too awkward. "Then hope they take us to wherever your friends are."

The cave was dark as they traversed it, their nervous footsteps echoing loudly around the tunnel. She knew they had to announce their arrival for the plan to work, but Alex still hoped they would hear any incoming threats in time to prepare.

Her body tried to unconsciously keep her steps silent, the tempo of her breathing low enough to pass through undetected. But that wasn't the objective.

So she made conscious effort to gulp down several mouthfuls of oxygen; made sure her shoes dragged a little as they moved deeper, just a tiny bit.

She felt it the moment they passed the barrier, the magic crashing on her body like a wall made out of condensed air. They stumbled forward and cursed, eyes blinking frantically to adapt to the bright light.

When Alex could see again, Michael had just enough time to snatch her hand and pull her back before she could lunge forward.

Not for the group of vampires waiting for them by the entrance, and not for the two people they'd come for, unconscious and swaying at the shoulders of two broad-chested vampires.

No.

She had lunged after the man at the very front, looking at her with such unrestrained joy that she wished she could grab that damned chain around his throat and choke him till he sang.

"Long time no see," said the man responsible for her sister's death cheerfully.

*****

Alex clenched her teeth, body writhing with just barely restrained bloodlust. "Finn," she choked.

He grinned broadly. "Alex. I've missed you."

He stepped forward with open arms and Alex moved to do the same — for different reasons. Michael held her back again, he and the woman putting themselves at her front. Alex turned to snap at him when her eye caught on the crowd gathering in a half-circle around them. Some looked bored, others barely intrigued, but her mind settled over the ones that looked at them almost like they were their next meal.

She shrank back, let them take the lead as her heart hammered in her chest. She was a pureblood, she needed to remind herself, they were not a danger to her.

"I wish to speak with your leaders," Michael said in a steady voice.

Alex clenched her fists and dug into her palm with her nails just enough for it to hurt. These people would sniff even the barest hint of blood. Michael moved again when Finn leaned to take another look.

"And what makes you think you mixedbloods have the right to call them as you see fit?" His tone was mocking, but his face had stayed the same, that frustrating, patronizing smile everpresent.

"When a situation arises that concerns the good of our kind, the elders are the only ones with the authority to refuse us." His eyes bore holes into Finn's skull. "Know your place, pureblood," he spat, and Alex could've kissed him for the expression he pulled from that prick's face.

Whatever she knew of him before, Finn seemed to have somewhat of a substantial standing down here. So it was only natural any hint of actual disrespect — from a 'mixedblood' no less — would bring out that sort of expression from him. She loved it. And she'd love it even more if she could feel it give under her fingers.

She wanted to stretch her fingers, to let her teeth show and possibly — very possibly — sink into his throat.

But Alex could still feel eyes on her, roaming all over her body. She swallowed and kept her fists clenched at her sides, focusing on her breaths.

People talked. Finn clenched his jaw, all false bravado and easy smiles. "Sure," he said. "I'll convey your little message. It'd be fun to see you end up like your friends over there." He pointed to Sam and Ian over his shoulder. Their bodies were still unmoving; Alex could just barely catch the scent of burning skin and wolfsbane. "You are here for them, aren't you?"

"Among other things," Michael clipped.

While he was gone Alex looked for any other sign of injury. They were heavily sedated, but they were otherwise unharmed; that in itself was enough to make her legs wobble from the relief.

Finn came back soon after, head bowed almost reverently and at the tow of a man in his late twenties.

"We've been having so many visitors lately," the man said in a wry tone. It was not a voice matching his appearance; it was older, unnervingly so. "What do I owe the pleasure to this time?"

"We were told there would be a council," the woman at her side said. Alex held back a hiss, the woman's name still escaping her as the council member smiled.

"And here I am. Now follow me, please. This place is way too dry for me." He grinned. "It messes with my complexion."

He paused for a moment to look back when they didn't immediately scurry after him. His smile was more of a showing of his teeth. Alex didn't think the man was used to having to wait for other people. "Surely you didn't expect for all our members to drop their very—" he pressed "—very important business to hurry here, now, did you?"

Michael lead them forward, the woman at her other side grinning at the vampires as they made room for them to pass. They closed the gap behind them and followed suit. Alex would have sighed if she could spare the breath. She would get them all killed.

The tunnel widened and gave way to glistening black marble. Gold chandeliers shone light from high up, rays reflecting on the marble from all the shiny decoration hanging from the walls. Swords, shields, wooden stakes. They were brown at spots with long-dried blood. Humans', because any vampire blood would have scattered to ash only a short while after it came into contact with outside air. She would know.

They were trophies, she wanted to whisper. Even the woman at her side seemed uneasy at their sight, and whatever made even her twitchy would be enough reason for Alexs' hackles to raise.

The stench of blood hit her even harder as they moved deeper into the underground cave, making her nerves burst with unease. She glanced at her friends. Still alive, still unconscious.

Her feet stopped on their own accord when the walls gave way to a large chamber.

Don't look, she told herself when the vampire moved over to a series of ornate chairs — no, thrones, she corrected herself — by the wall. He sat in the very middle, three vacant seats glistening ominously at each side; brighter than his, as if the vampire's mere presence sucked the light from the room and drenched him in everpresent darkness.

Don't look, don't look, don't look—

"It's been a while, Michael," he finally said.

"Not long enough, Ivan," Michael replied in turn. The vampires at their periphery bared their teeth, dozens of eyes glowing that same red that decorated the walls.

"You do not speak his name with that filthy mouth of yours, mixedblood," Finn hissed, and Alex might have mirrored his stance had her limbs not frozen over.

"I hadn't realized the proud vampire coven had turned into a den full of zealots," Michael said, but there was not a hint of sarcasm. The challenge in his eyes held the sole emotion on his face. "Have you finally decided to turn to religion? Finally curious to learn more about your maker?" He narrowed his eyes. "Or are you just content with being treated as their god?"

Alex sucked in a breath; the woman at his side tensed almost imperceptibly.

"It certainly has its uses," Ivan agreed, all sharp teeth and fake smiles. His eyes had been giving off a dull red glow since the moment they'd met. Alex wondered if he ever let them go back to normal. "But we are not fanatics," he continued after a pause. "We are survivors. We are what will remain when your lot fights itself to the grave."

"Then you're just cowards." Michael didn't so much as twitch at Ivan's scathing glare. "You'd much prefer to rule over a small number than to fight for something larger. You'll lose a lot more of your people up there than you can afford, you know that much. But you don't care," he chuckled. "Because, after all, you're only immortal for as long as your head is still attached to your shoulders."

Ivan's eyes burned brighter as he held up a hand to stop Finn from moving forward, his voice so much calmer than the silent rage in his eyes. Movement buzzed all around them. "Now, Finn, we should always be courteous to our guests." He opened his arms to gesture at the walls around the room, a wide smile splitting his face. The red in his eyes made it look oddly sinister. "I'm sure they already know what happens to those that go against us."

Alex looked.

Her stomach dropped at the men and women hanging from the walls by their extremities, the blood that dripped from wounds that healed ever so slowly. How much had they been tortured for the magic in their blood to take so long to heal their broken bodies?

There was a hint of wolfsbane that she could smell clearly; but wolfsbane, even in large doses, did not riddle the body with the dark veins she saw marring their skin. No. These people had been at the precipice of death for far too long, it was only a matter of time before their bodies could no longer sustain the damage, before the rot had taken too much from them to not fall into the void.

"We are not here as your enemies," Michael clarified, clenching his jaw. Alex could practically hear his teeth grinding together. "You know enough of what's happening outside." He gestured to Sam and Ian. "You cannot afford to stay out of it."

Ivan smiled. "On the contrary, this is the best place for us to be in right now. You could even stay with us, if you'd like. I'd hate to see an old friend die so pathetically in their war."

"You know this is not just their war," Alex pressed, pressure building all over her body as gaze after gaze fell on her. "They'll be coming for you the moment they've dealt with the werewolves. I'm telling you—"

"And I'm telling you," Ivan said deathly calm. " They have already been here. Why do you think we are so understaffed?" He motioned to the empty seats at his side.

Michael's eyes widened; the woman by her side made a sound at the back of her throat. "You've joined them?" she seethed.

"A part of our coven has." He frowned in an inkling of annoyance. Whatever it was that gave Michael the freedom to such apparent disrespect clearly didn't extend to her. "You should understand by now that you cannot take them all on by yourselves. Join us, here. Let them fight their wars while we rebuild."

"You are a fool if you think you can stand by and not take any sides," Michael warned finally. The vampires surrounding them bared their teeth again, but this time Ivan didn't stop them. "We are leaving, and I'll be taking the kids with me."

"You may take the wolf," Ivan's eyes flashed. "The purebloods stay with us." His eyes finally shifted to Alex. Her whole body shivered violently.

"I don't think so."

It took a moment for Alex's body to move, for her to guard against a vampire while Michael lunged for Sam and Ian.

"I want those two alive!" She heard over a sea of grunts and groans. Alex pulled back her hand and punched the jaw of the first man at her front, satisfied at the click that made him cry out and fall back. A moment later she was hauled back by a steady hand. She turned, frantically, teeth out, when she noticed that it was Michael.

Ian hung over his shoulder, still unconscious. "Matt, make way," he shouted, wrestling the hands that tried to grab for Ian. Matt, she realized, was the man that had stayed back when they first entered the cave. He pushed against the horde of vampires and lifted a bloodied hand.

The vampires around them screamed and fell back, clutching at their heads, their chests — where their hearts should be.

"You are a witch?" She yelped as one hand tried to reach for her again.

"Wizard," he croaked, ushering them behind him and through the cave tunnels.

"Michael!" a voice roared, carrying over the walls like electricity.

Matt passed Sam over to the woman, half stumbling after them. He held both hands up, dropping any vampire they found as they went back the same way he had used to join them in that room. But blood had started to fall from his lips, and they could already hear the vampires they'd left behind chasing after them again.

"Michael!" the woman called when Matt lurched to the side. Michael smashed a man's face on the wall and turned back.

"Alex, help carry him." She had already ducked under his arm, clutching him toward her for support. They made it only a few steps forward. More vampires made it toward them than Matt could handle. A writhing hand grabbed hold of her leg, distracting her long enough for a figure to body-slam them onto the cavern wall.

"Where do you think you're going?" Finn seethed, black veins pulsing all over. He clutched his head again and screamed, blood sputtering from his mouth to her face.

Matt wrenched her away. "Move!" Only then did she notice the blood falling from his eyes, his ears.

He let out a strangled cry and a wall of shimmering dust separated him and the vampires from them. Bodies banged over and over against it with flailing limbs.

"No!" Alex screamed when one tilted his head and tore at his throat.

"Matt," the woman cried out at the same moment he yelled, "Go!".

"No!" She held her hands out to him, lunged after the vampire at his throat. "Please, no!" It was too late, blood was already gushing out in rivers from his throat. She fought off the hands trying to grab hold of her, all the while holding onto Matt's faltering body in her arms. A hand went clear through her chest.

Michael grabbed at Sam's limp body and shoved her forward as the cave shook. "We need to get out. Now!"

Alex felt the magic wash over her again as they passed the entrance and raced over the cave opening. The moment they crossed over to the light the earth groaned and the whole cave shivered.

"Wait," Alex called over her shoulder. The entrance caved in. Rock and dirt fell over frenzied bodies, trapping them inside.

"That won't hold for long," Michael called, a lot slower now than he'd been before with two more bodies weighing him down.

"But they—"

"They're already dead!" He powered forward but his voice caught as he said it.

Hopelessness took over for one, single moment. Something gnawed at her insides at the sudden realization that she still didn't even know the woman's name.

Alex didn't let her body stall. For once, she forced it into action, into the one thing she was always exceptionally good at: she ran away after him.